To see how little Trump thinks of our public education system one need look no further than his appointment of the utterly unqualified, incompetent billionaire Betsy DeVos to head the Department of Education.

Our conman leader never reads, is highly inarticulate, and despises expertise. Given these traits, it’s little surprise that he doesn’t care for education. As he infamously said during the campaign, “I love the poorly educated.”

Yesterday, the Teacher of the Year award was given to Mandy Manning at the White House. Manning teaches refugees and immigrants in Washington state and came to the White House preparing to speak on their behalf to the nation.

Trump gave some brief comments about her work but failed to mention her students.

“My goal is to share my student’s stories. But to send a message — to not only my immigrant and refugee students but the LGBT community — that they are wanted, they are loved, they are enough and they matter,” said Manning.

Manning handed letters from her students to President Trump, who insisted that he was eager to read them and ordered an aide to deliver them directly to the Resolute desk.

The fact that the administration refused to broadcast Manning’s award, denying her a national platform to spread her positive message, shows just how cowardly they really are. Rather than publicly celebrate a woman who has dedicated her life to bettering the lives of others, they chose to cater to the worst instincts of their bigoted base, muzzling what could have been a moving, important message about inclusivity.